Wasteland is a 2011 action adventure post-apocalyptic film directed by Kantz, starring Garret Sato, Derrel Maury, Janelle Velasquez, and Jordan Lawson.  The film follows a man who embarks on a journey of revenge in a post-apocalyptic world against a group of religious zealots who destroyed everything that he loves and leaves him for dead.

Plot: The overarching story follows Keo Tanaka seeking revenge against the Church, a group of religious zealots, who killed his wife and kidnapped his son.  Other subplots include the Church’s search for the “vessel”, a female they plan to use to to recreate the world, a group of female martial artists who’re just hanging around, and a family of three making their way to the East seeking sanctuary.  The story is something we’ve seen a million times.  However, this movie is just forgettable.  Outside of the initial attack at the beginning, there’s nothign compelling about the story or subplots.  Also, there’s literally no character development or exploration.  None of the subplots have anything close to a resolution and even the ending was less than anti-climatic.  There’s even a serious lack of exposition of the setting and story.  How did the world get to this point?  Never explained.  (1 out of 5)

Characters: Almost none of the characters are worth giving a damn about.  Not in the slightest.  Each character is either one dimensional, poorly written, and a waste of space.  The only exceptions are Rachel and Caine.  Rachel watches her family get slaughtered by cannibals.  She’s then targeted by the Church as a vessel.  Interesting story, not enough character development.  Caine is one of the main antagonist (I think the guy’s name is Caine) and is actually the only one with anything called a personality.  He’s able to see visions and has psychic powers but has the most memorable moments and lines.  The main character Keo is one of the lamest characters of 2011.  He’s not interesting, has no personality, and you’d think he’d be badass.  Nope, doesn’t have a badass moment in the movie. (1 out of 5)

Cast: The casting and performances are below subpar.  There’s no one memorable, the performances are shit.  Nearly every performance is under sold, over-the-top, or just plain bad.  The cast includes Garret Sato, Derrel Maury, Janelle Velasquez, Jordan Lawson, Ira Katz, Lucky Sagiao, Jagger Chase, Salar Ghajar, Kaleti Williams, Zero Kazama, Sherry Shaoling, Maisie Pacia, Shandon West, Megan Le, and Theresa June-Tao. (1 out of 5)

Visuals: Visually the movie looks decent though unremarkable.  There’s a ton of in your face camera angles that seem amateurish, the distorting transitions are dumb, the editing and freeze frames don’t make any since.  The practical effects and costume designs are decent.  The martial arts are cool looking but have no reason to be in the film.  Anything above the practical looks like shit. Fight scenes lack depth and are riddled with jump cuts.  (1 out of 5)

Score/Music: The music is alright.  Nothing memorable but alright.  There are some dubbing that seems a little off here and there.  Some of the music does seem out of place and poorly distributed.  (2 out of 5)

Writing:  But where the film is hut the worst is its writing and directing.  The writing is cap on nearly every level.  The characters are all written poorly.  No one really has depth nor importance to the story.  The dialogue is absolutely atrocious.  There are moments where the dialogue tries to be meaningful.  Other times humorous.  But it just all comes off as awkward.  The martial arts is poorly utilized and when it is used is only used for fan services.  If you could call it that.  The setting is interesting but the film doesn’t explore it enough or effectively.  I don’t know what the director Kantz was thinking directing this film.  I haven’t seen any of his other films but if this movie is anything to go by I’ll never watch another film of his.  He doesn’t know how to shoot an action scene, doesn’t know how to convey emotion, doesn’t know how to tell a compelling story.  It is poorly paced with no complexity, no depth, not a fuck was given even in the slightest. The film also doesn’t know what it wants to be.  Is it a western?  Is it a martial arts? (1 out of 5)

The Verdicts:  In the end, Wasteland is probably one of the biggest failures I’ve ever witnessed.  There’s almost no redeemable qualities whatsoever.  It’s not even good in terms of B-movie standards.  I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie to a dog.  I wished it was better because it has some interesting points.  Wasteland gets 1 out of 5.